Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Tickets for this year’s NCAA Tournament semifinals in Atlanta, which begin Thursday night, have jumped 90.92 percent over last year, to a whopping $942.01 per ticket, according to TiqIQ, a secondary ticket aggregator.

In 2012, the average price per semifinal ticket was a mere $494.41 (Kentucky v Louisville/OSU v Kansas), up from $336.77 (Butler v VCU/UCONN v Kentucky) in 2011.

The average prices for the championship games are up 50.26 percent from 2012, from $300.95 a year ago to $452.21 today.

Why so expensive?

“There’s one pretty big match-up, Syracuse versus Michigan, that’s driving the price high for this year,” said Chris Matcovich, vice president of Data & Communications at TiqIQ. ”Syracuse has a pretty loyal following in terms of basketball. Though Michigan hasn’t been great in the recent past, they have filled up their program and are now competing in the Final Four.”

If that sounds a little excessive, no worries: The current get-in price for the championship -- the lowest price you could possibly pay -- is a mere $106, a much better deal than the $324 for the semifinals.

“The semifinals are always more expensive because you’re getting two games for the price of one,” said Matcovich.